


Punches

by bloatedpeep



Series: Catra [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:55:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloatedpeep/pseuds/bloatedpeep
Summary: "Come on Mermista, it's been a year. What can I do to make you trust me? Forgive me? Is there anything?" Mermista levels her with a look, curious and clearly tempted."Well..." She starts."Seriously, anything at all, I'll do it." Without missing a beat, Mermista says,"I want to punch you in the face." There's a moment of silence between them, before Catra laughs."Are you serious? That's it? Was this always an option?"Or, the Catra and Mermista bonding fic that I needed. I NEEDED THIS
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Series: Catra [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205795
Comments: 3
Kudos: 75





	Punches

Catra reaches out with a yawn, barely awake, searching for the warm body that should be next to her. Instead her arm falls upon a piece of paper that she pulls toward her, blinking herself awake to read. 

_Small emergency in Plumeria. Knew you had to be up early to help Mermista today, didn't want to wake you. See you tonight._

A little heart is drawn below the words, and a small thrill runs down Catra's spine as she remembers all over again that she has a date tonight. It was the reason it took her so long to fall asleep, so excited and curious about what Adora could have planned. With all the work they've been doing, especially Catra, they hadn't had much time to actually go out and do things alone together. 

Catra, more than anyone else, has thrown herself into the repair efforts. She wakes up and Glimmer teleports her wherever she'll be most helpful that day. No one asks her why she's so insistent on working so hard, because they all know. It's clear that they feel bad, want to make her feel less guilty, coddle her and make her feel better about being a monster. 

She hates it. She knows she's good now. She knows she's a better person than she was. 

She also knows how much damage she caused. She knows that when random citizens glare at her from afar, or make snide comments when they think she can't hear them, that she probably deserves it, and often has to stop Adora or even the other princesses rushing to her defense. 

"You don't deserve to be hated!" They'd insist furiously. She'd shrug, stoically. 

"Maybe not. But they deserve to hate me." And they'd look at her like she'd said something so profound, like she hadn't destroyed people's homes and been the cause behind their families deaths. 

It's hard being around people so naturally kind, sometimes. They like to pretend her flaws aren't there, that the years before never happened. Sometimes, even being around Hordak is a breath of fresh air. 

Adora wasn't so bad, because at least they'd talked everything out. It was a painful process, and they still said things that hurt each other sometimes, painful reminders of the past. But Adora had laid it all on the table, all at once, because she knew that was what Catra needed from her. 

"I get so jealous I want to claw sparkles' eyes out, I constantly say terrible things, I've clawed you and hurt your friends and tried to kill you and hurt Scorpia..." She sobbed their second night together, far too drunk from the celebration party. Adora had taken her hands, pulling her closer, eyes shining with equal intoxication.

"I know you get possessive, I know you say things you don't mean, and I know you can cut me deeper with your words than your claws, Catra. I always have, and I've always loved you." She gathered Catra in her arms and they cried together until they fell asleep. 

So with Adora, who was still as overbearing as ever, she felt secure. Like Adora really saw her. 

The only other person she really felt that around was Mermista. 

She was the only princess that still, after a year, has not welcomed her with open arms. Her kingdom is the furthest from being completely repaired, too, being one of the largest and definitely the most abused. It's where Catra has spent the majority of her time since the war ended, doing busy work or telling other people what busy work to do. Mermista, for the most part, had that handled though, and took great pleasure in getting to order Catra about. 

It wasn't terrible, of course. Mermista had warmed to her substantially over the year, even managing to joke with her and eat meals with her one on one. Still, she never missed a chance to throw in a barb about the past, and if it were anyone else, Catra would be truly and deeply hurt by these remarks. Sometimes she is, and of course they never feel amazing, but something about it being Mermista softens the blow a bit. 

By the time Glimmer knocks on her door (it had taken months of angry hissing for her to stop teleporting into their room), she's ready to get to work in Salineas. Glimmer isn't used to not knocking or waking up so early yet, but she dutifully shows up every morning to take Catra where she needs to go, usually silent with dim eyes from sleepiness. Today is no different, and she leaves her inside the rebuilt palace to wait for Mermista without a word. 

Mermista is fifteen minutes late. She's always late, and Catra suspects that she takes pleasure out of making her wait. It's another thing she's willing to take, only from Mermista.

"Come on." She says without introduction, not even coming into the room, just poking her head in and leaving. Catra follows quickly, watching Mermista rub her eyes as they walk. The girl was not a morning person. She barely ever said two words to her until hours into their work. 

Honestly, Catra was surprised that she didn't make her do all the work and just relax all day. She's the princess, she probably didn't have to, so Catra took that to mean she truly wanted to. This is a startling revelation, for some reason. It makes her realize even further that she had never wanted to really rule the fright zone. She didn't care about it. It was all a quest for power and the princess of it. 

She has to remind herself of that once in a while, in her most self pitying moments when she wants to believe that her intentions were good and true. 

Mermista leads them to the sea gate. The two of them made a great pair in carving out the delicate sculptures, with Catra able to use her claws for fine lines and Mermista being a walking power hose. They were about half of the way through the first Mermaid, it was stunning progress, and Mermista warmed to her more with every days work. 

Still, she had not been forgiven yet. 

Today, while she's carving out a long shadow in the hair, hanging in a harness next to the stone, Mermista reminds her of this. 

"At least you're as good at rebuilding as you are at destroying. We might have this done by next year, if we keep up the pace." Catra tries to ignore the slight and see the compliment, but still, she sighs, climbing back up the stone to look Mermista in the eye. 

"Come on Mermista, it's been a year. What can I do to make you trust me? Forgive me? Is there anything?" Mermista levels her with a look, curious and clearly tempted. 

"Well..." She starts. 

"Seriously, anything at all, I'll do it." Without missing a beat, Mermista says,

"I want to punch you in the face." There's a moment of silence between them, before Catra laughs. 

"Are you serious? That's it? Was this always an option?"

"Nope, now or never." Catra adjusts, making sure the hit won't knock her off the platform, and then nods. 

"Alright, then, come at me." She says, and is stunned when the punch lands. She didn't even see her throw it. _She must have been eager_.

Catra lands flat on her back. She thought she was prepared, but there was no preparing for a hit that sudden. When she opens her eyes, Mermista's worried face is in hers, hand extended to help her up and asking if she's okay. 

"Jeez, don't go all soft on me now, Mermaid girl..." Catra manages with a groan, rubbing the side of her face where she was hit. "Pretty solid punch you got there." She says, stretching the muscles in her neck by tilting her head from side to side. 

"I'll take that as pretty high praise from someone who's been punched by She-Ra a hundred times." Catra scoffs, waving a hand. 

"Eh, She-Ra never hit me very hard. _Adora_ on the other hand, has hit me harder than I've ever been hit in my life." Mermista raises an eyebrow. 

"Really? When?"

"When I opened the portal. Gotta say, probably when I most deserved it. I don't know if the altered reality made it hit even harder, but yeah, that was definitely the hardest she ever hit me. It was when I really realized how easy she was going on me. Couldn't even look her in the eye, after that, and I especially couldn't fight her." Catra's mouth snaps shut, teeth clashing together. She'd never said that out loud before, not even to Adora. 

That was the thing about Mermista, all the sharp wit and constant nasty barbs somehow makes you let your guard down, and you start saying things that you don't mean to say. Especially Catra, who has so many things she'd rather not say but also the desperate need to _impress_ Mermista all the time. 

"Damn. We all knew she was going easy on you, but I didn't realize she was going _that_ easy." Catra turns to her with alarm.

"You guys knew?" 

"Well, yeah. She was a totally different person in battles without you. But it was kind of hard to talk about since it was clear she was struggling with the whole fighting you and being secretly in love with you thing or whatever." Mermista shrugs, and Catra laughs. 

"I guess it would be." 

"Ugh, is it lunch break yet? We should go to one of the grill places, I'm dying for some fish skewers." Mermista moves on from completely, so quickly that Catra feels herself getting whiplash, but decides to take it as a good sign. 

"Fish skewers are literally the best food, no one can blame you. Let's take an early lunch?" Mermista nods at her with a smile, and they start on their way down into the city. 


End file.
